Three Reasons Why 100 Yen Is Bad News for World
This article is for subscribers only.
May 14 (Bloomberg) -- The smile on Kazuo Hirai’s face showswhy the yen’s drop below 100-to-the-dollar is as much a cursefor Japan as a blessing.
The Sony Corp. chief executive officer is beaming becausehis company has produced its first profit in years. Did thetroubled giant that redefined consumer electronics with thetransistor radio and then the Walkman dream up a new gadgetbetter than Apple Inc.’s iPhone, iPad or iPod? No. Has Sonyraised productivity or halted dangerous infighting betweendepartments? Nope. Is the company cutting costs and staffquickly enough to compete in a rapidly changing marketplace?Hardly.